


Everybody Knows

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Boy Meets World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-24
Updated: 2006-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:59:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1642847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by Person</p><p>It was Corey's pride that made Shawn lean forward and kiss him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everybody Knows

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bastet

 

 

" _That's_ my girl," Corey said proudly, grinning down at Topenga from the hill he and Shawn were sitting on together. She was being given a Certificate of Merit in some awards ceremony they mayor was holding. Shawn didn't really understand why they'd suddenly decided to throw together an occasion like this honoring high school kids, but he was pretty damned sure that it had something to do with it being a reelection year. "Best grades in the city," Corey was continuing on, grinning broadly. "Who'da thunk it?"

"Well, she _is_ pretty smart," Shawn said. "If it was _me_ up there it'd be a surprise. Topenga's more like a sure thing, unless Minkus had gotten it."

For a second Corey let confusion break into how happy he was for Topenga. "Where's Minkus been all these years anyway?"

Shawn shrugged carelessly. "You're asking _me_?"

"You're right. Dumb question." Corey turned back to the stage, his smile returning as Topenga began giving a short speech. "Don't even try to lessen this day, Shawny. _I_ , Corey Matthews, am dating the smartest girl in the city. The hottest too. Am I or am I _not_ the luckiest guy around?"

It was Corey's pride that made Shawn lean forward and kiss him in front of Topenga, the mayor, Mr. Feeney, and everyone else in the audience if any of them had taken a second to look up at the hill instead of at the stage or at the bleachers. It was a cliché to think that Corey glowed with it, but, Shawn thought, things only became cliché because they were so fitting. And who would look up anyway?

"All right, all right already," Corey said with an easy smile when they broke apart. "I'm dating the hottest guy in the city too. Are you--" He broke off his words with a horrified expression on his face, staring down at the stage below them. Wondering what was up, Shawn turned his head to look at what was freaking him out so badly, and saw Topenga staring straight up at the two of them.

Okay, so _one_ person had decided to look up after all. Too bad it was the worst possible person of all.

* * *

An hour after the ceremony Shawn burst into Topenga's room. He knew he only had a little while before Corey got over his freaking out and came to see her himself, and Shawn knew he had to try steering her anger mostly toward himself before that happened. "Listen, Topenga," he said quickly, before she could get out a word of her own. "That was _all_ my fault today. Corey didn't have anything to do with it. In fact, he was talking about how much he loved you when I did it."

That said, he paused and actually looked at her, and was surprised by how calm she seemed. He'd been expecting her to be crying, or angry, or to throw something at his head as soon as he stepped in the room. Instead she looked like she was enjoying her own private joke. "Shawn, I know," she said.

"That it's my fault?" He asked, trying to make sure that he'd gotten the important point across.

"About you and Corey. I've _always_ known about you and Corey. Heck, anybody who's ever been in the same room as the two of you for more than a few seconds knows about you and Corey. The _mailman_ knows." She patted the spot next to her on her bed, silently offering him the seat, and said, "It's okay."

He sat, thinking that he would never stop being confused after this conversation had finished. "You knew? And you never said anything?"

She smiled a little sadly, and put her hand over his, squeezing it in an offer of comfort. "I'm going to marry Corey one day," she said instead of answering, and both of them were completely sure that she was speaking the truth. "We're going to have a home together, and we're going to have children together, and we're going to be happy for all of our lives. And... you're going to be there too, because there's a part of him that needs you to be happy, and it's a part of him I'll never be able to touch. I knew that going in."

"You don't mind?"

She took a deep breath, and released it with a sigh. "I _can't_ mind," she admitted, "because if I did, and I made him choose, I don't know whether he'd pick me or not. But I'm happy, _really_. As long as most of his time is spent with me, it's okay if he gives a little of it to you." Then, so quietly that he wouldn't have been able to make out the words if he hadn't been sitting right next to her, "He was yours first, after all."

* * *

Shawn met Corey on the sidewalk when he was walking away from Topenga's home. "Hey," he said, and Corey nodded back at him, but Shawn could see how Corey was trying to keep a distance between them. " _Hey,_ " he said again, closing it and resting his hands on Corey's shoulders, "It's okay, Cor."

"Okay? _Okay?_ " Corey repeated, and Shawn could tell that he was already working himself into one of the fits he had sometime. "I'm going to lose the _love of my life_ because you couldn't wait _ten minutes_ to--"

Shawn covered Corey's mouth with his hand before he could say anything he could regret. "I just came from Topenga's house, and it's okay."

Corey blinked at him blankly, and Shawn mentally counted down the seconds before he processed what he'd just been told. _Four... three... two..._ "Wait, you mean it's really okay?"

"She already knew."

"How could she know? We've been so _good_ about keeping it a secret."

"Not good enough, it looks like. Apparently even the mailman knows."

"Chuck?" Corey frowned to himself. "Well, that _would_ explain why he acted so sorry for me when I didn't get a card from you on Valentine's Day." He poked Shawn in the chest. "Why _didn't_ you send me a card? Topenga sent me a card."

"Cor, I've _never_ given you a card on Valentine's Day. And you don't give me one either, so you've got no right to get mad at me about it. And even if you could that was months ago. Too late."

"Oh, yeah." Corey accepted that answer, then turned his attention back to the issue at hand. "So, she's _really_ okay with it?"

"Well, she did have _one_ condition."

"I _knew_ it! She wants me to break it off with you, right? Or, to climb to the top of a mountain and scream my love for her to the world to prove that I love her best. Or dive to the bottom of the sea and find a perfect pearl as a sign of my devotion. Does she want _blood?_ "

"Where do you _get_ this stuff?" Shawn asked, giving him a weird look.

"Well, sometime my mom leaves these cheesy romance novels lying around, and when there's nothing better to do... that's not the point! What does she want?"

Shawn smirked. "She wants to watch sometimes."

He hoped that Topenga would forgive him for the little lie, but the expression on Corey's face made it all worth while.

 


End file.
